


Ordinal of The Rebellion

by Program_In_C_Minor



Category: League of Legends, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Odyssey (League of Legends), Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/F, F/M, My First AO3 Post
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:53:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26279743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Program_In_C_Minor/pseuds/Program_In_C_Minor
Summary: Kayn is a Horde officer, specifically the one and only Ordinal in their ranks. According to some (mostly himself), he's probably one of the best. Unfortunately, he's almost always given the duty of training unsatisfactory cadets and generally wasting his time. Even worse for him is that after  being given his first mission in a long time, Kayn is defeated in the return of one of Etheria's oldest heroes.But Kayn's destiny changes when he discovers a strange weapon in the Whispering Woods that promises power beyond his wildest dreams. Reluctantly armed with this new blade and a growing desire to rule Etheria, Kayn allies himself with the rebellion in an effort to achieve his aims. However, his time in the rebellion begins to change him, perhaps to the point that his goals are far less selfish than they were.Whichever path he decides to follow, at least one thing is certain: the enemy in the palm of his hand could become a far greater threat to him and Etheria than anything else...
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Kudos: 5





	1. Wake Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello folks, and welcome to my (technically) fourth fanfiction! I have some other works on Wattpad under the name MetaCrisisDR but I'm not worrying about bringing them over just yet. This is a story I've recently begun to work on that's been bouncing around in my head for a little while now. In any case, hope you enjoy!

_"Come on, Kayn! You're going to miss the fireworks!—"_

_"—Sweetie, you need to run. Be brave for—"_

_"—healing nanomachine injection. Increase dosage of—"_

_"—You'll be at my dance, right?—"_

_"—alter these memories. He cannot—"_

_"—I'll be back soon! I promise—"_

_"—Your technique was sloppy. Again!—"_

_"—you will do great things, Shieda Kayn—"_

_"Congratulations, Ordinal—"_

_"—KAYN!—"_

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

Kayn's eyes shot open. Shaking his head, he rolled over over to turn off his alarm. A thin layer of sweat covered his skin. After a moment, he stood up and turned on the lights before walking over large window in the room and gazing out at the industrial landscape before him.

The Fright Zone was its name. It was a sprawling metal mess of junk and pollution in the middle of a crater. It was a pretty shit place, but it was his home of the past thirteen years. He could slightly see his reflection in the glass: a young man with half shaved blue hair and gold colored irises. His long mane of hair was shaved down on the right side, and his left arm was completely cybernetic in nature.

With a sigh, Kayn walked to a panel with a small screen on the wall opposite his bed. A tap of one of its holographic buttons made a the wall to the right of him slide away, revealing a small closet with the uniform of a high ranking officer inside. There were no fancy pins or medals, only plain black fabric, indicating a high status. As he grabbed it and got changed, he noticed a notification appear on the device on the wall. He put on a golden eyepatch over his left eye, but after a device inside finished a retinal scan, his view now had a HUD and the device began scanning various objects passively as it booted up. Finally, he tapped on the wall mounted screen to pull up the notification on his communication feed.

"Ordinal Kayn," a cold voice regarded him as a woman with black hair and red mask appeared on the screen.

"Shadow Weaver," he grunted, "And for what reason am I being graced by your wrinkly ass this morning?"

"Mind your tongue, Ordinal, lest I request it be removed," she responded.

Kayn merely huffed in response, "Right, right. Now what was the thing you had to tell me?"

"I was going to relay a message. General Swain wishes to speak to you after you've finished your training session with your cadets."

"Oh really? And why didn't the good General tell me himself?"

"He's busy dealing with some more important matters at the moment. And now that I'm done dealing with you, I have some as well," she finished, terminating the call.

"Bitch," Kayn muttered. Whether or not she had more important things to do, it didn't matter. It was certain she wished to speak to him for the bare minimum amount of time possible, a sentiment which Kayn _very_ much returned.

While the Ordinal's mood was sour, he could at least take solace in the fact that he didn't have to 'spar' with them. After all, the novelty of destroying cadets in combat quickly wore off in the first few days he spent attempting to train them.

As the only Ordinal in the Horde, Kayn wasn't sent on many missions. Due to this, he was given a position as a training instructor for Cadets, and the group he was stuck with was mostly subpar. Kyle was a scrawny blonde kid that would probably sooner be killed by the recoil of his own blaster than an enemy, and Lonnie and Rogelio were incredibly mediocre at best. Catra had the _potential_ to be one of the best soldiers the Horde had, but her lack of motivation in her training was truly astounding and annoying.

The only cadet that had somewhat impressed him so far was Adora who, ironically enough, was Shadow Weaver's favorite little orphan cadet. She was a few cuts above the rest of her friends in her performance in training exercises, but there was one problem...

On that note, Kayn finally got reached the entrance to the battle simulation room. Without looking at the cadets, he immediately marched to the front between them and the doors.

"At attention, scrubs!" Kayn barked, startling the cadets.

"So, the gist of the simulation is this: you're all going to be sent straight into the heart of the Rebellion, Bright Moon," he explained as he paced in front of the group. A very nervous Kyle was practically quaking in his boots already.

"Your mission is to kill the Queen for Lord Hordak, yada yada yada—" he stopped pacing and 'explaining' the simulation when he noticed an empty spot between Adora and Lonnie. Kayn leveled a withering glare at all the other cadets until Adora finally spoke up

"Sorry about Catra. She'll be here. I promise," she explained.

Kayn pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He suddenly clapped his hands together and, with a slightly annoyed voice, said, "We'll then! I, quite frankly, don't wish to deal with that now, so run along, don't get eviscerated for at least five seconds, and maybe your reports will look alright. Have fun!"

As the doors opened and the recruits entered the simulation battlefield, Kayn made his way to the observation deck. Upon entering, he found Shadow Weaver standing by the window, watching the cadets navigate the large room's various columns that replicated the of Bright Moon.

"I'd say it's a pleasure to find you here, but that would be a lie," Kayn said as he walked up to observe as well. Shadow Weaver glared at him. She turned back as he continued, "Why are you here, anyway?"

"After this trial, I will be promoting Adora to the position of Force Captain. Unless you wish to dispute my decision, Ordinal?"

"No, she's probably the only one out of the bunch worth a damn anyway," Kayn admitted before adding, "But make sure you give her a different squad. Her friends here are far less competent than her and will keep her from reaching her full potential."

As if to punctuate his point, Kyle was blasted by one of the training bots almost instantly, leaving him out of the course as the remaining three cadets turned back and circled around him.

However, they were ambushed by training bots above them. Using their shields to deflect the shots, the remaining cadets hastily retreated from their fallen comrade. Soon, they broke out of the "forest" to find a clearing; upon taking a few steps, a much larger training bot descended from the ceiling and fired a large blast that forced Lonnie and Rogelio to dive to the side and Adora to roll past it.

She charged the machine, taking out an extending pole weapon as she avoided more attacks. Once she got close, the cadet used her weapon to pole vault up on top of the bot. She managed to dodge three shots from the two laser cannons before destroying each with her weapon before finally stabbing the "head" of the robot and diving out of the way as it exploded.

Unfortunately, the destroyed bot was unable to fall into the hole below it to its destruction as the angle of its four legs caused it to remain suspended.

"Well, she almost finished the—" Kayn began before he noticed a fifth person walk on up to the robot. His expression shifted to annoyance as he huffed, "Are you _fucking_ kidding me..."

"Despite your coarse language, I must agree with the sentiment..." Shadow Weaver commented.

"Seems like our thoughts on this squad are the _only_ thing we can agree on."

Catra had finally made her appearance as she finished off the robot by lightly pushing one of its legs to make it plummet to its doom. Soon after, the tile Adora was laying on turned red and disappeared, dropping her into a pitfall.

As Catra helped Adora back up, Kayn sighed and headed to the exit without giving any further remarks to the other occupant of the room.

He reached the starting point of the drill to find the cadets once again lined up. Kyle was nervously tapping his index fingers together and looking away from the Ordinal. Lonnie and Rogelio seemed unperturbed, but they had an air of apprehension around them. Adora and Catra were the only two with confidence at this debriefing, the former staying more composed while the latter seemed quite smug.

"Well, I can at the very least say there were some slight improvements from your last battle simulation," Kayn admitted, surprising the cadets until he immediately said, "Keyword is slight. You're still quite far from good enough to be in the field.

"Kyle, you still died five seconds in. Given your general lack of improvement, you're still barely fit to be cannon fodder.

"Rogelio, Lonnie, you were somewhat reasonable. At the very least, you made it to the end, but given the fact that you failed to recover after the Queen somehow _didn't_ kill you, I can't give you more than an average rating.

"Lastly, Adora. Congratulations on being the only one to complete the course, and apparently in record time. Next time, learn to land on your feet."

"W-wait, aren't you forgetting Catra?" Kyle pointed out. The other cadets seemed to nod slightly in agreement.

Kayn merely shrugged and simply said, "Well she didn't really do anything, so I don't see much of a point in talking about her performance."

"What?" Catra protested, "I finished the course at the same time as Adora!"

"True. Except you didn't show up with your squadmates at the beginning and put in minimal effort in the actual point of this exercise," Kayn explained exasperatedly, "If this were an infiltration simulation, then maybe that would be passing with flying colors, but in this instance, all you did was attempt to do jack shit until the end to barely pass. You might as well not have shown up at all at that rate."

While Catra sputtered in annoyance, Kayn spun on his heel, "In any case, I have some business to attend to. Buzz off."

Without looking back, the Ordinal walked away from the group, leaving them to mull over their performance and seathe in rage at their unwilling and uncaring 'instructor'. Kayn paid them no mind; now it was time for a more important task.

Kayn made his way through the halls with some haste, and apparently his annoyance must have been clear on his face. Various robots, cadets, and soldiers passed as he made his way through the metal building. Many of the latter two whispered to each other about him, or more specifically his temperament. Kayn immediately corrected his disposition by closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths. While Kayn didn't much care for their opinions, he would have to at least control himself enough to not do something stupid in front of the General.

Speaking of the Devil, he finally found himself at the large doors to a sort of office. Upon his arrival, the doors slid open to reveal a dimly lit, spacious room. The sides had various monitors and battle plans drawn out, and a singular desk sat in the center. Behind it was a man in a large black cloak with long white hair and a raven perched on his left shoulder. That same arm was also hidden within the folds of his cloak.

"General," Kayn stated as he stepped forward. The man in question looked up to regard the new arrival.

"Ah, Ordinal. Good to see you," he greeted while shuffling some papers. He stood up and the bird flew past Kayn and out the door. The general soon followed it and motioned for Kayn to join him.

As the two began to walk around the halls, Swain turned to his subordinate and said, "I have recently received word from Lord Hordak that we are to proceed to strike a rebel group at Thaymor soon."

"I presume he wished me to lead the attack?" Kayn asked.

Swain shook his head, "One thing you ought to remember is you shouldn't always presume that something will happen the way you expect, lest you disappoint yourself."

"Oh really?" Kayn frowned, "So what is this about then? Am I to be given more cadets to waste time with?"

"Another lesson for you is to not be so flippant with your superiors despite your position, but by now it seems you're told that so much it's pointless," Swain pointed out before continuing, "You will be one of the leaders of the attack, but you will be secondary to, I assume she is by this point anyway, Force Captain Adora."

The Ordinal snorted at the proposition, "They're giving some newbie Force Captain command of a mission on her first day?"

"Yes. Hordak believes this will be a simple test for her as a new Force Captain. For the most part, you'll be in an advisory position unless _somehow_ the situation were to spiral out of her control, though I doubt such an event would occur."

"Right, right," Kayn muttered before raising his voice back to normal levels, "So when exactly is this whole thing going down anyway?"

"Likely within a few days. The exact date and time is as of yet unknown," Swain stopped and turned to look at Kayn directly, "You have the rest of the day off, Ordinal, but be prepared to be called to duty at any moment over the next few days."

"Aye, sir," Kayn gave a small mock salute to which Swain simply nodded and walked off, leaving Kayn to skulk back to his quarters.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Kayn immediately growled and punched a wall as soon as he stepped into his room and the door closed. He ignored the dull, throbbing pain in his hand as he angrily paced the room.

"Are you _fucking_ kidding me?!?! First time in the field in almost a **year** , and it's for glorified babysitting duty? What the hell!" he cursed loudly before flopping face first into his bed and screaming into his pillow.

After about five minutes of silently laying defeated on his bed, Kayn finally rolled over to stare at the ceiling.

_Whatever. Maybe it'll be fun to see if she flubs it up somehow..._

Kayn wasn't sure how long it was before he went under or how much time he did sleep, but he was awoken to the sound of a loud pounding on his door. He groaned as he got up and made his way over as the sound repeated.

"Can you give me a damn second? I'm coming over—" he opened the door to find Shadow Weaver standing outside. "Look, I'm already in a pretty shit mood, so if you are here to senselessly berate me—"

"As much as I would like to do so, your services are required," she explained as neutrally as possible while turning and proceeding down the hall. Kayn simply stayed silent and blinked once in surprise at the statement before finally jogging to catch up.

"Right. You need me to keep an eye on golden girl, right? My pointless little mission to elevate the newbie?" he remarked as he slowed to a walk.

"Don't speak with such insolence!" Shadow Weaver whipped around, the darkness around her seeming to grow. Kayn continued to stare nonchalantly as she composed herself and said, "Unfortunately, Adora has gone missing. You are to accompany Catra and her forces in a mission to Thaymor and hopefully retrieve Adora. **_Today_**."

"Well, nice job keeping track of your favorite scrub. Least now I get to do something..."

"While it is now Catra's mission to lead the attack, I expect you will consider bringing Adora back _alive_ as one of your objectives. Are we clear?"

"I'll consider it," Kayn responded with a cheeky grin, waking towards the vehicle bay and leaving a bristling Shadow Weaver behind.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Kayn's eyepatch interface has its display zoomed in and scanning the village as he sat atop a tank. A small crowd seemed to be milking about the town square, and various colorful..things were hung all around.

_Wonder why they've got all those weird decorations anyway...strange way to have a meeting._

"I thought this was a fort, not a town of civilians," Kayn muttered as he lowered his binoculars and turned to Catra, "See your girlfriend yet?"

"No," she glared at him, "And she's _not_ my girlfriend."

"Sure, sure," he said sarcastically, "Anyway, given that I'm still second in command in this mission since Shadow Weaver _somehow_ hates you less than she does me, what's the plan?"

"Well, we're going to go and attack the town, find and retrieve Adora, and leave," Catra replies as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Are you sure we shouldn't go for a more... _subtle_ approach?"

"What's the need for subtlety?," she gestured to the troops around them, "We've got all these tanks and robots, why not use them?"

"I'm just saying that this is an awful lot of resources being used to find one cadet when we could be—"

"Don't talk about Adora like she's just some random cadet!" Catra snarled.

Kayn simply smirked at her response, "Well, in that case, go right ahead and make the call, _Captain_."

Catra sent one last glare at the Ordinal before entering the tank. After Kayn hopped off, the tank went off in the direction of the village, followed close behind by the other tanks, troops, and robots that made up their strike force.

Kayn shook his head as he made his way up with the rest of the Horde troops while the canons began firing. He made sure to let the troops do the heavy lifting. While he didn't mind fighting rebels, he wasn't particularly inclined to attacking civilians. Still, he wasn't in charge, but he wasn't going to cry over spilt milk.

As the battle raged on, he finally caught sight of Catra. She had someone, likely a rebel, pinned to the ground. He had a darker complexion and wore a white and yellow outfit. It seemed his weapon of choice was a bow, but he had run out of arrows and had to rely on fighting Catra face-to-face. Despite having a ranged weapon, he had no dagger or weapon to really use in close range.

 _Rookie mistake_.

The archer managed to flip Catra off him and make his way to a nearby horse, only to find himself beset by troops, tanks, and bots on all sides. Kayn then strolled up and slow clapped for him.

"Bra-vo, rebel," he mockingly congratulated as he drew an energy pistol from his belt, "It seems you're in quite an unfortunate situation, but I'm willing to offer a deal. Come quietly and give us any information you have on the Rebellion, or I will kill you. I'd advise taking the first choice."

The archer seemed to have no intention of following the first option and stepped forward, bow raised, and said to his equine companion, "It's been an honor serving with you, Horsey."

Kayn's expression suddenly warped into one of utter disappointment, "Really? You're basically having your only chance at cool last words, and you chose that sentence?"

There was no response from the rebel, but he did seem a mite bit embarrassed. Kayn sighed.

"Well, since you won't surrender, I'll just put you out of your misery," he said as he raised the pistol.

And then everything went to shit.

A bright golden glow appeared at the edge of the circle of soldiers, damn near blinding Kayn for a moment, and it began to move towards them. As it came closer and the aura dimmed a little, Kayn could see that inside the glow was a woman, likely one of those princesses if he had to guess, and she held a sword in hand. She was also eight feet tall, and loathe he was to admit it, she intimidated him a bit. Once she reached the center of the circle near Kayn and the archer, she stopped.

"Look, you—" Kayn started before she raised her sword up and stabbed the point into the ground, sending out a shockwave that knocked him back a ways and disabled most of the robots and tanks.

The woman managed to take out much of the remaining Horde soldiers and tanks, making many of them begin to retreat as Kayn recovered.

"Cowards," he scowled as he watched them run before turning to the warrior, "Well, if you want a job done right..."

Holstering his pistol, he addressed the newcomer, "Well, I can certainly say you've ruffled my feathers a bit. Who are you, exactly?"

The golden haired woman didn't respond.

Kayn shrugged his shoulders, "Well, whatever your name is, I am Ordinal Kayn of The Horde. Surrender now and you will be granted mercy. Continue to resist, and you will die."

While she didn't talk, the warrior definitely recognized what he said, and instead of taking the former option, she held her sword in both hands and pointed it at the Horde officer.

"Very well then."

Kayn unclipped a cylinder on his belt that had a switch on it. Flicking it on in his left hand caused a red beam of energy to project out of it, forming a Beam Sword. He held the weapon in his left hand and pointed it towards his opponent as well.

After a moment, they rushed at each other, their blades clashing multiple times before locking together. The two of them stared each other down, each trying to push the other back. They finally broke apart, with Kayn spinning low to avoid a follow up swing from the woman's sword. His eyepatch scanned his opponent's weapon and a small blurb appeared in his display that confirmed his suspicions.

"That looks like First Ones' tech," Kayn pointed to her blade. She swung at him again, but he deflected the blow, continuing, "It would be beneficial to my superiors if I bring such a thing to them. Or perhaps I'll simply mount it on my wall. Which one do you think sounds better?"

Still no response was given to his words as the duel raged on. For a while it continued, each of the fighters slashing, stabbing, blocking, and dodging, trying to take out the other to the best of their ability. Kayn began to realize his opponent didn't seem to be tiring, yet even with his enhancements, he wouldn't be able to keep up forever. He needed to finish this, and fast.

Kayn deflected another blow with more force than before, sending his enemy off balance. Immediately after, he went to slash at her legs, but he was surprised to find that she quickly recovered and jumped over the attack. Kayn was then met with a kick to his face. Pain exploded around his nose as he stumbled back, clutching at the area with his open hand. He looked at his palm to see golden-red blood. With a scowl, he grabbed his broken nose and set it into its original position with a sickening crack and wiped away the blood. The blonde warrior continued to wear a passive expression as his wound began to heal.

"Impressive," Kayn conceded, "Not many can say they've injured me. Not that it'll matter much for long."

He attacked again with renewed vigor. At first he began attempting to hit her limbs again, but he soon came up with a better idea. Kayn executed a strong overhead strike, bringing his blade down to meet his opponent's. While the two of them held their ground in the clash, he quickly unholstered his pistol with his open right hand and prepared to fire.

As he was about to take the shot, his ears caught two whistling sounds coming from his left side. Before he could react, one arrow struck the gun out of his right hand, and then a second arrow pierced the back of his cybernetic left one. It went most of the way through, enough that it went into the hilt of the Beam Sword if it flickering out was any indication.

Kayn realized that the archer must have retrieved some of his arrows from around the battlefield. How could he have been so foolish to assume that they'd stay out of this?

And then he had to bite back a shout of pain as he felt the warrior's sword slash diagonally across his chest. The blow was strong enough to send him flying back, crashing through one of the destroyed houses behind him and landing flat on his back and sliding a bit further.

The Ordinal groaned as he stopped, lifting his head to look back in the direction he came from. Neither the archer nor the blonde swords-woman followed. He ran his organic hand over the cut from the blade. It was a little deep, but not enough to hit anything important. It began to heal somewhat quickly, but the size of the wound lead to it being slower than the broken nose.

_Might be healed overnight at best...._

Kayn managed to pull himself up to his feet using nearby rubble. He had lost his pistol, and his Beam Sword was inoperable.

 _Speaking of it..._ he thought, grabbing the arrow embedded in his left hand with his right, snapping it in two, pulling each end out, and taking his half-destroyed weapon and clipping it back to his belt.

With a hiss of pain, he began staggering back towards the Whispering Woods. All of The Horde troops had surely retreated at this point, and for at least a little while, he was in no condition to hike back to the Fright Zone until at least the next morning. The only thing he could do now was find a reasonably safe place to rest and recuperate where he would be less likely to get shot in his sleep or captured by rebels.

After sluggishly making his way past the tree line, Kayn found a small sheltered area made up of small boulders stacked in a half circle with a fallen tree over the top of it. Once he got into it, he put his hand against the wall and slowly lowered himself to the ground. He leaned back as his labored breathing cans back down to a regular rhythm. As he looked out into the forest, his eyelids began to droop as he realized just how _tired_ he was.

He finally decided to let himself fall asleep, but before he went under, one thought rang out in his head.

_I fucked up. Big time._


	2. Rebellion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kayn awakens after his defeat by the mysterious warrior in Thaymor. Humiliated, alone, and lost behind enemy lines, the Ordinal wanders through the brush, guided by a faint feeling calling out to him...

_"On to Subject Thirteen," a man in a white coat said, moving in front of a table with a blue haired boy, no older than ten or eleven, strapped down. He was also missing his left arm. It appeared to be sloppily bandaged; the wound was likely infected. He was scared, but he said nothing._

_Two other scientist flanked him on either side, one female and one male. Each brought various surgical tools with them._

_"Begin healing nanomachine injection. Increase dosage of painkillers to hopefully prevent shock and the requirement of testing Subject Fourteen," the female scientist said with slight annoyance at that last part and absolutely no sympathy for the child._

_The kid struggled against his bonds as the needles were inserted. Despite the painkillers, it felt like fire in his veins, burning everything in his body. He screamed out for someone, anyone to help him—_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the second time in recent memory, Kayn woke up in a state of semi-panic. Upon scanning his location to find he hadn't moved from before, he relaxed a bit. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep. Hours? Days?

The Ordinal glanced over his wounds from his battle to find they'd sealed up. While there might be some scarring, at least he'd be alive.

_If only my clothes were self heeling. Having a ripped uniform isn't the best for my image..._

He finally stood up, aware of the aching in his joints as he took a tentative step forward, and another, and finally he began walking off through the forest.

Kayn only knew one thing: he was lost in a potentially dangerous forest, he had just recently recovered from some pretty extreme injuries, and it's likely that by now, if he made it back to The Horde, he'd likely be humiliated or worse.

_Wait, that's three things..._

Without a map, Kayn did the only thing he could: walk forward. He kept trekking through the forest. However, he wasn't coming up on any clearings, and things were looking a little too familiar for his liking.

"Haven't I passed this rock three times?" Kayn wondered aloud. To be sure, he flipped the stone to the side to mark it if he saw it again.

Sure enough, he passed it again five minutes later and kicked it away with a scream of frustration.

 _I'll never get out of this First Ones' forsaken forest at this rate,_ he seethed internally, _What the hell even is this place?_

His inner ranting was cut short by an odd sensation. A feeling creeped its way into his body; it felt as though something was beckoning him, leading him on to some sort of prize.

_Strange..._

Kayn cautiously followed this attractive force, keeping an eye out for anything amiss. No animals of any sort attempted to jump him. Actually, as he got closer, he noticed he couldn't hear any animals _at all._

_Definitely strange._

Finally, Kayn came to a clearing in the foliage. He collapsed to his knees and raised his hands in the air upon seeing the sun again, only to immediately have his excitement turned to shock at the landscape before him.

_What happened here?!_

What he found was a small canyon of sorts with a large hole buried in the left side, almost as though an object had crashed through at high velocity. Just outside of the cave in the canyon, many decrepit machines and skeletons littered the ground, all of them with the gear and insignias of...

_The Horde. But the degradation of the equipment would suggest that this site had been abandoned for a long time. That can't be right. If The Horde knew about this, then why haven't we been told of it? More importantly...it seems they fighting each other...but why?_

Besides that, it seemed like a wall had been set up around the entrance to the canyon with autoturrets on top. Thankfully, they seemed to be in complete disrepair and overtaken by vines.

As Kayn walked forward to investigate, he failed to notice the shadowy creature hiding in the forest behind him, observing his every move.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

"How could he possibly find that place?" Shadow Weaver hissed as she stood over her scrying cauldron.

She had heard from Catra after her failure that Kayn was defeated and likely was dead. While Shadow Weaver was excited by the prospect, she sent out a shadow minion to confirm this. However, she was mildly disappointed to find that he still lived, but his becoming lost in the Whispering Woods was a great deal of fun to watch. That is, it was until he found his way to the Crash Zone.

No one had entered that site in decades. At first, it was because of the defenses being set to kill anything that came to close to the area. Eventually, the magic of the Woods itself obscured the place and made it impossible for almost anyone to locate it; this was fortunate because it was far too risky to send _anyone_ to repair the station, especially after what the thing the found there..."inspired" people to do.

Shadow Weaver's eyes narrowed. When informed of the failure at Thaymore, Swain had sent a small squad after Kayn while leaving Catra to wait to be summoned to search for Adora upon finding out they were alive.

And if that squad followed him there and if Kayn found _it_ , there was no doubt in her mind that those soldiers weren't coming back alive.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

The feeling from before became even stronger as he slid into the canyon, passed the wall, and approached the cave. When he entered, he was dumbfounded by what he saw. At the back of the cave was a rough shaft, about thirty meters across and likely hundreds more down. Clearly the rock was cut by _something_ , but even the greatest Horde ordnance couldn't make a level of destruction this big. More importantly, there was no rubble. Had the entire mass of rock simply been annihilated?

Questions bounced around Kayn's mind, and he decided he'd find answers. He began to climb down the shaft, using the various nooks and crannies to make his way down. The ledges all had a large amount of accumulated dust on them. Given the amount, it seemed that the formation was created anywhere from a hundred to a thousand years ago.

As he got closer the bottom, he figured whatever this was, it was probably some huge discovery. One that could redeem himself in the eyes of The Horde, and more importantly propel his status even further, maybe even about Shadow Weaver or Grand General Swain...

Kayn blinked are that. He was an Ordinal, and his first duty was to secure such things for the good of The Horde, in the name of...

But he didn't want to.

Some burning thought lingered in his mind. What he found here, it belonged to him and no one else's. Only he was worthy—

Again he stopped himself. It seemed that this feeling was compelling him, making him wish to pursue it obsessively to the end.

_Was this the fate of those bodies above?_

Kayn's skin became clammy all of a sudden as he finally hit the bottom. His interface finished scanning the environment and came to a startling conclusion about the area.

_This place doesn't exist?!?!_

According to the readings, the pit he had entered was on Etheria, but at the same time...it wasn't.

_There must be some massive amounts of dimensional energy gathered here. If that's true, then—_

His thoughts were interrupted as he finally got a good look at the center of the pit. It seemed as though an object was infused with the bedrock.

"What is this..." he wondered aloud in astonishment. Closer inspection revealed it to be a scythe, a large one at that. The handle and blade were forged of some foreign material unidentifiable by his interface. What he could certainly tell, however, was that it was proportioned for human hands.

It was a weapon of war, simultaneously beautiful and ugly in its design.

Kayn heard a low chuckle in the room. He quickly looked around only to find himself still alone in the pit.

**_No, you are not alone, boy._ **

The Ordinal jumped back from the embedded scythe, assuming a defensive position.

"Who are you? Who said that?"

**_Why, I'm right here front of you!_ **

Kayn turned to the weapon in disbelief.

"You?"

**_Yes._ **

"I suppose you called me here. As well as the dead bodies outside this cave."

**_Astute observation. I call out. Some come to me. I'm only interested in the worthy._ **

"Worthy? Of what?"

**_Of me. What else? I'll know who's worthy when I am wielded. Perhaps it is you._ **

"I don't even know what you are."

**_Do you have to? I only need to know who you are. I'll keep calling for more, even if they don't always listen, or they if the magic of this world makes it hard for them to. Once I am taken, I'll stop calling as I'll have no need to do so._ **

"Listen here. I am an Ordinal of—"

 **_Who you are or were doesn't concern me. I'm interested in your dreams, your ambitions, your deepest desires. What you want to achieve, how you wish to shape the cosmos themselves. How_ ** **_ you _ ** **_believe the world should work._ **

"I already told you, I'm an Ordinal," Kayn retorted, "I have a duty to uphold—"

**_A duty you have recently failed I believe. I can see it in your mind. More importantly, it's a duty you resent, one thrust on you as a child for reasons you don't know. You pledge yourself to puppeteers who care not for you, certainly not enough to reveal your origins. Most importantly, you know that being an "Ordinal" only makes you a glorified guinea pig that would never be given any real command over anyone._ **

Kayn shook his head, trying to ignore what was being said, "I guess I must've suffered head trauma earlier. I'm just imagining things. Maybe the trans-dimensional energy here is just messing with my mind."

**_Oh, so now I'm no longer real?_ **

"You're an object of great importance to The Horde. You must be some cosmic object giving off trace elements affecting—"

A rumbling from above interrupted him. Looking back at the weapon one last time, he turned to climb back up to the surface.

**_I'd imagine whatever that was will be quite unhappy to see you, and you have no weapon. Perhaps you'd like me to grant you some of my power?_ **

"If I'm _worthy..._ " Kayn spat, only for the weapon to chuckle again as he turned and began to climb once more.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Kayn glanced about upon reaching the surface. No one had entered the cave, but there could very well be someone, or many someones, outside. He cautiously snuck to the left side of the entrance before stepping out and immediately sucking under a glaive swing from an unknown assailant. Kayn grabbed the weapon in the overextended Horde soldier's grip with his left arm before pulling the poor bastard's body in front of him to use as a human shield when various blasters began to fire. Once they stopped, he dropped the body to the ground.

Taking the glaive from the corpse, he looked to the entrance to the canyon to find a small group of a tank and seven soldiers, one of which was wearing a force captain pin. She was fairly tall and lanky with four arms (each one holding a blaster of their own), blue skin, long dark hair, and a visor over her eyes. This was Captain Krizzix Khavy. She and her squad were all good soldiers.

**_More like good dogs. As warriors and leaders, none of them are good enough. Are you?_ **

The Ordinal ignored the voice, calling out, "Force Captain Khavy, what is the meaning of this insubordination?"

"Shadow Weaver sent us to retrieve you," the captain explained. Kayn raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really? And I suppose the soldier trying to kill me was a little 'So happy you're not dead!' present?"

Now the captain's face split into a sharp-toothed grin, "No. That was to kill you."

Kayn barely had time to react as three of the other soldiers and their captain opened fire. Using his Glaive, he barely deflected the shots to the side. The tank fired during the barrage, forcing him to dodge to the side.

"What the hellis this?" he bellowed.

"You don't deserve it! It shouldn't be for you!" Khavy called out, "You're just a pretentious prick, you know that? You talk all this shit, and then you get your ass kicked by some random girl in a skirt!"

One of the other men, a heavily armored one, charged Kayn in an attempt to knock him over. Kayn tried to block the attack with the glaive, but it shattered in his grip and sent the blades end to the side while pushing the Ordinal back a ways. When they attempted a left hook, he took the sharp, broken shaft and stabbed it into the less protected armpit, breaking through and running it through their heart.

Another soldier charge him with a power glove to try and punch his head off. Kayn leaned to the right to avoid the headshot and counter attacked with a swift, hard punch with his metal arm into their neck, snapping it instantly.

"Stand your men down, Captain!" Kayn ordered, "This is madness!"

**_This is the test._ **

"The weapon is messing with is! I implore you to see reason here!"

"What, scared to lose again so soon, Ordinal?" Khavy taunted, "You're just some arrogant little boy. I've been serving in this army fifteen years longer than you, and you think you can just talk shit to me and everyone else because you got a couple needles and machines stuck in you as a kid or somethin'?"

The final melee soldier had managed to get behind Kayn, wrapping her arms around his neck and trying to strangle him. As Kayn struggled to breathe, he managed to flip forward and throw her off.

"Cap's right," she grunted as she stood up, "You're just some jumped-up asshole! You don't deserve it!"

"Who does then," he asked, pointing at her, "You?"

"Yes! It chose me! I heard it in my head!" she roared, about to pounce again. However, this endeavor was cut short as a blaster shot went straight through her head and she crumpled to the ground, dead.

"That's a lie!" one of Khavy's gunners shouted, "It said it was me! It was always me!"

"It's playing with _all_ of us, soldier!" Kayn indicates to him, Khavy, and the remaining three troopers, "It's making us do this!"

"Maybe," one of the other ones said, "But it doesn't lie!"

They fired again, but this time Kayn was already in motion. He picked up the other half of the broken glaive and chucked it like a javelin, goring one of them. A blast scorched his hip, but Kayn managed to reach them.

He leapt over one soldier, grabbing them to use as a meat shield against Khavy and the other soldier. He shot the remaining grunt in the head, capped both of the captain's knees , and hit her in the chest and neck with his meat shield's gun. Finally, he took the grenades off the now dead grunt's belt, activated them, and threw them under the tank. Once it blew up, he turned to the surprisingly still living Captain Krizzix.

"It should have been me. I-it c-chose me, it chose m-me," she sobbed in pain on the ground.

"I'm sorry Captain. But I can't let anyone near this thing. It's too dangerous," Kayn said with a level voice.

"I-if not me...then others...." the captain said.

Kayn sighed as he went to grab her communicator, "Hang on, ill call for a medivac."

**_Kill her._ **

"Shut up."

**_Do it. Now. Prove what you are!_ **

"I said. Shut. Up."

"D-Don't call more...n-no more..." Khavy pleaded, seeming to have a moment of sanity and guilt as she finally expired. Kayn thought for a moment. He remembered what the scythe had said earlier in the cave.

**_You and her are right. There will be more eventually. Sure, the magic of the Woods and the secrecy of this place it may make it another century until someone wanders here. Maybe it'll even be eons, but time is an illusion to me. If you don't use me, someone else will fill your spot. If not them, then so on._ **

"The cycle of bloodshed will continue,"Kayn thought aloud, "But once you're claimed, this stops?"

**_That is what I said._ **

Kayn thought for a little while. He'd just stumbled upon an ancient power The Horde had buried for centuries. If he didn't take the weapon, more people could die in pursuit of this power. But speaking of the power, it seemed quite...alluring. Truth be told, he did feel a little cast aside, not as respected as he should be. Perhaps this could change that. And more...

Kayn made his decision. He turned back into the cave, scrambling back down to the bottom of the pit. He almost slipped twice, and he jumped past most of the end, landing in front of the weapon.

**_Changed your mind?_ **

"Piss off," Kayn said, and he grabbed it.

After a second, he yanked it free. Kayn felt a rush of power as an eye opened in the base of the weapon. It stared into his, and he saw—

_Another universe. He saw silence. He saw the vast well of time. He saw a moment stretched into an eternity. He saw lingering stillness and glacial quiet. He saw dark stars and black suns frozen in a void of endless shadow. He saw monstrous, silent beings lurking within weapons, cast into the cosmos by a golden haired warrior._

_And then he heard a name, breathed out like a whisper._

**_Rhaast._ **

Kaynfelt himself return to his own body soon after. He stumbled, but recovered, finding the scythe resting easily in his left hand.

**_I'm so glad you reconsidered my offer._ **

"Not sure if I can say the same yet," Kayn mused, still discombobulated from his out of body experience.

**_Well, at least you now have a small piece of my powers. Maybe it'll help you with the whole "conquering the world thing."_ **

"Right, right. Now, would one of them happen to make getting out of here easier than a third climb?"

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Shadow Weaver continued to observe as Kayn left the canyon, now holding the Scythe. While not unexpected, it certainly made the dark sorceress seethe in rage...and underneath it was some concern.

One of two things would eventually happen, both equally bad. Either the being within the weapon destroys Kayn's soul and take over his body before laying waste to everything on Etheria, or Kayn defeats it and takes its power for his own and possibly ends up taking over the world. Neither were particularly good scenarios.

Shadow Weaver rubbed her temples. Between this and Adora's defecting, she was going to be dealing with some migraines, especially once word reached Hordak...

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

**_That's a terrible plan._ **

"What do you mean? It's perfectly fine," Kayn talked with Rhaast as he walked along the rocky areas outside the canyon. He had no intention of currently getting lost in the forest once more, so he elected to scale the canyon with Rhaast, walk around the perimeter of the Woods, and begin plotting his next move. 

**_Why involve them in this? They'd be more likely to try destroy us! Or, more likely, they could be worthless! We should just slaughter our way through the Horde, take out Hordak ourselves, and make you their new leader!_ **

Kayn pinched the bridge of his nose, "Despite my skills, I will admit that my recent defeat has given me a little bit more of a cautious—"

**_That was She-Ra, not the Horde._ **

"Even so, it would do us no good if we were defeated. It's best to take the safer route and get help from the Rebellion."

**_Oh really? And what makes you think they won't just try to smite us once you get there?_ **

Kayn hesitated a moment as he went through his options in his head. While gathering temporary allies with the rebellion was likely his best option, Rhaast had a point.

**_Of course I do._ **

Kayn rolled his eye at that. Regardless, he needed a way to get the Queen to trust him. But how could he achieve that if he was an e-Horde Officer?

Thankfully, the universe decided to throw him a softball on that one as he approached a new, smaller canyon. This one had a still operating Horde base in it with various tanks around the area, and currently a large and hairy Force Captain, likely Grizzlor, was ordering eight of his men to restrain a...

**_Is that a winged horse?_ **

"With a horn. How incredibly innocent."

**_I wonder if its blood and organs are rainbow-colored._ **

"Eugh _,_ Rhaast, no..." Kayn bemoaned in disgust.

However, the horse wasn't the most important part of this situation. Looking to across to the other side of the canyon, he saw a golden flash by the another entrance to the Whispering Woods, similar to the one from the village. Soon after, the woman who kicked his ass before, who Rhaast has named as "She-Ra," jumped down and cut the net pinning the winged creature, letting it fly free. Kayn smiled as a plan formed in his mind.

**_...that's another terrible idea._ **

_We're doing it._

**_Don't you dare—!_ **

Against Rhaast's protests, Kayn slid down the canyon wall.

"Turn off your machines and leave this place, now!" he heard She-Ra order the Horde troops as he came closer to the bottom.

"It's the princess! Get her!" Captain Grizzlor shouted. 

Upon reaching the bottom, Kayn broke out in a sprint towards a group of three Horde soldiers close together. Dashing in the middle of them, Kayn slashed Rhaast in a circle around him, cleaving them all in two. The other five soldiers had tried to charge She-Ra, but a slash of her sword created a large gust of wind that blew them away. Immediately after disposing of them, she jumped atop a tank and sliced off its canon, throwing it into another to destroy it. She then threw her sword at a third tank, severely damaging it before jumping back down and noticing Kayn.

She-Ra was about to try to hit him when Kayn held up a hand to try and get her to calm down and explained, "I'm not here to fight you."

"What are you here for then?" she asked. Before he could explain himself, he glanced behind her and pointed to the base. The two of them looked over to see Grizzlor retreat inside in a panic, sending out nine soldiers with energy shields and maces.

Rather than fight each other, Kayn and She-Ra turned to the new 'threat' and charged them. The warrior princess dodged a shield bash and punched the attacker across the face. Another rushed her, but she blocked their strike and head butted them back.

Kayn took on three more, blocking the first one and swiping his feet out from under him before finishing the soldier off by stabbing him with the point at the bottom of the scythe's handle. Turning to find the other two about to strike, Kayn hit one of them with a spinning kick to the head, ducked under the second soldier's blow, and cut his legs off at the knees with Rhaast.

As he stood up, Kayn saw She-Ra, now with her sword, knock down two soldiers and stick the flat of the blade out to clothesline a third.

"How'd you get the sword back from over—" Kayn began, looking towards the tank she had thrown her sword into. He was surprised to find an elderly woman attempting to beat one of the Horde soldiers over the head with a broom.

**_I'm not the only one seeing this, right?_ **

"Nope. Should we help her?"

**_I don't see any reason we should. This is quite entertaining._ **

"Yeah, but letting old ladies die to Horde soldiers isn't exactly the best way to make allies."

Before he went to help, Kayn felt an overwhelming sense of danger. Whipping around, he found a tank moving into position to fire on them.

"While there's an okay chance I might be able to deal with this thing, I have nothing to blow it up. Any superpowers you got for me or am I going to have to 'prove my worth' again?"

**_No need. You have access to some of my power as is, and with one of them you can just walk into it._ **

"Ha ha, very clever of you."

**_I don't mean you actually faceplanting on it you idiot! I meant literally walking inside of it! As in walking through walls!_ **

Kayn blinked, "Oh. Well that's nice. Any tips on how to do it while I sprint at it?"

**_Just think about it really hard. It might work._ **

"Gee, thanks for the help," Kayn remarked as he broke out into a run. The big gun fixated on him, firing once. Kayn dodged to the side and kept up his speed, closing the gap between him and the tank rapidly.

_I hope this works..._

He dove towards the tank, doing his best to concentrate on moving _through_ the armor.He felt an odd sensation in his gut as well as some vibrations given off by Rhaast. Somehow, it managed to work. Kayn's body became a translucent purple color and he phased through it, finding a very shocked Captain Grizzlor within.

"Wha—How did you—?!" the Force Captain sputtered. Rather than get sliced in half by Kayn's scythe, the hatch popped open and he scrambled out of the tank. Unfortunately for him, Kayn followed swiftly by phasing through the tank once more as his quarry hit the ground. Before the hairy Horde officer could make two steps from the vehicle, two diagonal slashes across his back cut him down. Kayn hit him with a final stab with Rhaast, just to be sure.

"That went better than I thought it would."

**_Well, I needed to give you a bit of an assist on the phasing thing since you're such an amateur, but I suppose we can work on it later._ **

"Wha—amateur?!?! I'll have you know I learn quite—"

Kayn's poor attempt at a rebuttal was cut off as another tank fired a massive laser blast at a distracted She-Ra, knocking her flat on her back. She landed by the old lady and the winged horse, and they were quickly surrounded by a much larger group of Horde reinforcements, about ten in number.

Kayn was about to intervene when the old woman grabbed some berries and threw them on the ground, creating a smokescreen that distracted the soldiers. While they were blinded by the cloud, Kayn was far enough away to see the old woman and an unconscious, but smaller and differently dressed, blonde woman on the back of the flying horse escape over the top of the canyon and head for the Whispering Woods.

"Damn. We need to catch up with them!" Kayn said, pursuing the trio as the soldiers recovered.

**_You don't say?_ **

"Shut up."

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

"...and we have confirmed that Force Captain Krizzix and Force Captain Grizzlor we're both killed by former Ordinal Kayn, sir," a Horde soldier finished his report as Swain listened intently. The General nodded and waved the soldier off.

Once they left, he turned to a communicator on his desk. He tapped a few buttons, and soon a holographic screen appeared on his desk, displaying Shadow Weaver.

"Yes, General?"

"I'm sure you're already aware of the disappearance of our Ordinal and his preceding actions," Swain began as he stood up and began to pace the room.

"I know he vanished after the attack on Thaymor, but—"

"Do not play games with me, witch," the General said in a chillingly calm voice, "I'm quite certain you sent a little shadow spy of yours after him. Despite your position by Hordak's side, I am still in charge of most military operations. As such, this sort of information should have been reported to me immediately."

Shadow Weaver did not respond with anything other than narrowed eyes. Swain continued, "Nevertheless, we've found ourselves in a precarious situation. Both of our golden eggs have found weapons of great power and decided to turn against us. We'll need to monitor them and consider a new plan of action. Be sure to report any new findings to me immediately."

He terminated the connection and pinched the bridge of his nose with his right hand. Why did everything have to go so wrong?

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Kayn stopped just before the clearing in front of a small hut, catching his breath and hiding behind a tree. Peeking around it, he found a familiar face with the old lady and the horse.

"Adora?" he muttered in surprise at finding the cadet here of all places, "So she is She-Ra?"

**_She's blonde and has the sword. Seems kind of obvious._ **

"Were you always so sarcastic when you were not trapped in a weapon?"

**_Perhaps._ **

Kayn watched as Adora and the old lady conversed for a bit until the latter entered her little hut. Taking a deep breath, he stepped out of cover into the clearing and clearing his throat. Adora immediately looked in his direction, panicked for a moment, and pointed her sword at him.

"Okay, maybe you should let me talk a little before you wave that thing around too much and hurt someone," Kayn remarked, "Besides, I helped you earlier. Why would I try to hurt you now all of a sudden."

Adora still looked skeptical, but her stance relaxed a little, "Why did you follow me? And why did you help me back in the valley?"

"Well, that's a simple answer!" Kayn replied with a smile as he planted Rhaast in the ground and clapped his hands together once, "I want to join your rag-tag group of rebels and defeat The Horde!"

Adora raised her eyebrow a little and snorted, "Really? The big bad Ordinal wants to rebel against The Horde? Weren't you on a mission to destroy Thaymor before?"

"Says the formerly indoctrinated cadet. And technically, I wasn't leading it," he pointed out. The Horde Captain-turned-rebel still seemed to be on edge.

Thinking for a moment, he sighed as his face morphed to a sad frown, "Look, I've never really questioned what I've been told. My whole life, I've grown up not knowing who I am or where I came from. My life was stolen from me by the Horde, just like you. Unfortunately, it took a beating from you and a magic scythe to set my head straight—"

**_Really? Lowering yourself to appeal to her with a sappy, tragic backstory? And why would you bring me into this? YOU HAVE TERRIBLE IDEAS_ **

"Did you say magic scythe?" Adora interjected pointing to the weapon next to him, "Like that one?"

"Yeah," Kayn said, "Is your sword magic?"

"I mean, maybe? It's made by the First Ones, so it's probably some combination of technology and magic, but yeah!"

"Well that's neat. Does yours also come with an annoying voice?"

"No. I just got a weird flashes of...memories of some sort when I picked it up."

"Same here! See? We're in the same situation!" Kayn exclaimed, "I may have been abrasive and crude in the past—"

"And a real pain in the rear?" Adora cut him off with a smirk.

Kayn deflated a little before admitting, "Sure...that too...but in any case, what I've seen has made me realize that what I've been doing is wrong, and now I'm trying to make a new path forward. One that involves helping the Rebellion."

_Pleaseworkpleaseworkpleaseworkpleaseworkpleasework—_

"I mean, I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to get the Rebellion to let me help them since they don't really trust me right now, but maybe if you help me figure something out, you could join us!" Adora finally responded.

**_.....That worked...._ **

_Because most anyone currently in the Rebellion is gullible enough buy into it anyway,_ Kayn shot back mentally.

"That's wonderf—" Kayn began before realizing what she said, "Wait, you guys are having trust issues?"

"I mean, Glimmer kinda brought us back to Bright Moon secretly, so naturally when people see a Horde officer in the heart of rebellion territory, they're not inclined to listen before trying to take you out," Adora sheepishly admitted.

Kayn blinked twice before responding, "And you didn't show your whole 'She-Ra' magic-sparkle-rainbow thing?"

"Well, what you saw in the canyon _was_ the first time I transformed on command..."

"Oh dear..." Kayn facepalmed, "Okay then, how about you walk in as She-Ra to introduce yourself first before you reveal your true self."

"And what are you going to do? Not like The Ordinal can just waltz into Bright Moon."

"I'll wait outside and once you resolve your issues, then you could have them come outside for a brief conversation, I guess?"

Adora shrugged, "It's as good a plan as we're probably gonna get. I don't think having a repeat of my incident is a great idea."

**_All this planning is wonderful, but how exactly do you plan on getting to this Bright Moon place anyway? Flapping your arms very fast and flying there?_ **

_Good point,_ Kayn scratched his chin in thought when Adora turned to look at that winged unicorn they'd rescued earlier.

"Umm...any chance you could give the two of use a ride to Bright Moon, Swift Wind?" Adora asked the horse. Before Kayn could snark about speaking to an animal that likely wouldn't understand English, he was surprised to see the horse kneel down a bit to let Adora on his back. With a raised eyebrow, Kayn wisely remained silent and grabbed Rhaast out of the ground, taking a seat on "Swift Wind's" back behind Adora.

Kayn looked over Adora's shoulder and asked So...how exactly is this gonna gooOOOOOOO!"

He began to shout in surprise as Swift Wind shot into the sky, breaking through the leaves and soaring above the Whispering Woods. While Adora whooped in excitement, Kayn shouted again in fright before calming down.

"I didn't know the big bad Ordinal screamed like a little kid!" Adora joked.

"Shut up..." he meekly replied as they continued to glide above the trees and mountains.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

"How could you possibly think this was acceptable?!"

In the throne room of Bright Moon, Bow and Glimmer were standing before the latter's mother, Queen Angela. Due to earlier events, the mood was a little...tense to say the least. A crowd of Bright Moon citizens were gathered jus to side the entrance observing the argument between mother and daughter.

"Mom, you don't understand! You're not listening!" Glimmer responded, but Angela wasn't having it.

"You've shown remarkably poor judgement!" she continued, "You allowed a Horde soldier into Bright Moon without telling me!"

Bow stepped forward and put a hand on Glimmer's shoulder, explaining, "Your majesty, it's not all her fault—"

"Bow," Angela said calmly, "I think it is time you went home. Glimmer and I have a _lot_ to discuss."

"Mom—!" Glimmer began to retort before she was interrupted by a bright gold flash from the entrance to the room. The crowd parted as She-Ra entered the room in all her glory. She strode up towards the front of the room.

"It can't be..." Angela whispered.

"Mom, this is what I was trying to tell you," Glimmer explained, "This is—"

"She-Ra," her mother cut her off, still in shock at the new arrival as the golden haired warrior stopped just in front of the Queen.

"Your majesty, I've come to pledge myself to the Rebellion," She-Ra explained, "But first, there's something you need to know..."

With a flash, She-Ra reverted back to Adora, causing those in the room besides Bow and Glimmer to gasp and whisper amongst themselves.

Despite this, Glimmer took her arm, leading her a bit further forward, saying firmly, "Mom, this is Adora."

The girl knelt down, looking away and admitting, "I know you have absolutely no reason to trust me, Your Majesty. But I've seen for myself the atrocities the Horde has committed against the people of Etheria, and I am ready to fight to stop them."

Adora looked up at the Queen, resolve etched into her features as she held her sword up to her, "If you give me the chance, I know I can help the Rebellion turn the tide of the war."

Angela accepted the sword, holding it for a moment before saying, "I know the legend of the warrior the First Ones' call She-Ra. They said she would return to help us in the hour of our greatest need to bring balance to Etheria.

"I thought it to be nothing more than a myth, and yet you are here now, and in the uniform of a Horde soldier no less," she pointed out, "You would pledge to stand with us against those you once served?"

"Yes," Adora nodded.

"Glimmer, you would vouch for her and take responsibility for her?"

"Absolutely."

"Then rise. The Rebellion accepts your allegiance, She-Ra, Princess of Power," Angela proclaimed, holding out the sword for Adora. She stood up and accepted the weapon as the crowd cheered.

"Welcome to Bright Moon!" Glimmer squealed as she and Bow gave Adora a hug.

"For real this time!" the archer smiled. However, Adora did have to break up the hug early as she had one last thing to say.

"Er...Your Majesty?" she said, making the Queen raise an eyebrow, "There is one _slight_ thing that we're going to have to talk about."

As if on queue, the crowd gasped in shock as a black trench coat wearing, scythe-wielding person stepped into the room with a shit-eating grin.

"Is that—" Angela, Glimmer, and Bow exclaimed simultaneously.

"Wassup?" former Ordinal Kayn greeted with a two-fingered salute.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Back in the Fright Zone, Shadow Weaver dragged Catra by her arm up to a different throne, one up a large flight of stairs with the threatening red symbol of The Horde emblazoned on it. The cadet struggled futilely as she was lead up the steps and behind the throne, where mechanical arms were putting armor on a figure shrouded in the shadows, only illuminated by the red glow from his suit and, when he turned around, his eyes.

Catra trembled in fright until Shadow Weaver shoves her forward, with a command of "Kneel!"

Catra complied, still terrified of the figure before her as Shadow Weaver began her explanation.

"I gave her charge of a simple mission: return Force Captain Adora to the Fright Zone. Instead, our forces suffered a humiliating defeat and we...'regrettably' lost Ordinal Kayn in the process."

"Swain already informed me of the Ordinal. This wouldn't be the first time you lost control of him if my memory serves me right," the figure said with a cool voice. Shadow Weaver's eyes narrowed as he continued, "And you mean to tell me you're still down a Force Captain?"

"Yes, my Lord, but rest assured, we will not stop until we find Adora and bring her back," Shadow Weaver responded.

"No. You will elect a new Force Captain and resume normal operations," the figure commanded.

"But... my Lord, Adora is the _only_ viable candidate—"

"You have Catra. Was she not your ward as well?"

" _Catra_ has been nothing but a disappointment to me," Shadow Weaver spit out the girl's name as though it were venom.

"If you have failed to condition her properly, you have no one but yourself to blame."

"But my Lord—"

"Enough. I have made my decision," his red eyes burrowed into the still kneeling cadet, "Rise, Force Captain Catra."

She glanced up in shock at the sudden promotion. The figure walked up to her as she stood up, presenting a green Force Captain badge. Catra accepted it hesitantly, glancing back at the revealed pale face of the leader of the Horde, who merely stared back.

With a grin, Catra looked at the badge in her hand, and for the first time, she was excited for what tomorrow would bring.


End file.
